Open Research Europe (Jun 2024)
Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) science: The hidden circumgalactic medium [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]
- Pamela Klaassen,
- Mark Booth,
- Amelie Saintonge,
- Carlos De Breuck,
- Helmut Dannerbauer,
- Chian-Chou Chen,
- Evanthia Hatziminaoglou,
- Matus Rybak,
- Claudia Cicone,
- Andreas Lundgren,
- Alice Schimek,
- Tony Mroczkowski,
- Philip N. Appleton,
- Doug Johnstone,
- Gergo Popping,
- Luca Di Mascolo,
- Minju Lee,
- Sebastiano Cantalupo,
- Manuela Bischetti,
- Eelco van Kampen,
- Antonio Pensabene,
- Thomas Maccarone,
- Bjorn H.C. Emonts,
- Daizhong Liu,
- Sijing Shen,
- Matthew Smith,
- Francesca Rizzo,
- Sven Wedemeyer,
- Paola Andreani,
- Laura Sommovigo,
- Martin A. Cordiner,
- Alexander E. Thelen
Affiliations
- Pamela Klaassen
- UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Mark Booth
- ORCiD
- UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Amelie Saintonge
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London, England, UK
- Carlos De Breuck
- ORCiD
- European Southern Observatory, Garching bei Munchen, 85748, Germany
- Helmut Dannerbauer
- Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife, Spain
- Chian-Chou Chen
- Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics Academia Sinica, Taipei City, Taiwan
- Evanthia Hatziminaoglou
- ORCiD
- European Southern Observatory, Garching bei Munchen, 85748, Germany
- Matus Rybak
- Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden, South Holland, The Netherlands
- Claudia Cicone
- ORCiD
- Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Andreas Lundgren
- ORCiD
- Aix-Marseille-University, Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
- Alice Schimek
- Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Tony Mroczkowski
- ORCiD
- European Southern Observatory, Garching bei Munchen, 85748, Germany
- Philip N. Appleton
- ORCiD
- Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- Doug Johnstone
- ORCiD
- NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics, Victoria, Canada
- Gergo Popping
- European Southern Observatory, Garching bei Munchen, 85748, Germany
- Luca Di Mascolo
- ORCiD
- Astronomy Unit, Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
- Minju Lee
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Copenhagen, Denmark
- Sebastiano Cantalupo
- Department of Physics, University of Milan Bicocca, Milano, Italy
- Manuela Bischetti
- Astronomy Unit, Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
- Eelco van Kampen
- ORCiD
- European Southern Observatory, Garching bei Munchen, 85748, Germany
- Antonio Pensabene
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Milan Bicocca, Milano, Italy
- Thomas Maccarone
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA
- Bjorn H.C. Emonts
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA, USA
- Daizhong Liu
- ORCiD
- Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), Garching, Germany
- Sijing Shen
- Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Matthew Smith
- ORCiD
- School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK
- Francesca Rizzo
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Copenhagen, Denmark
- Sven Wedemeyer
- Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Paola Andreani
- ORCiD
- European Southern Observatory, Garching bei Munchen, 85748, Germany
- Laura Sommovigo
- Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, New York, New York, USA
- Martin A. Cordiner
- Astrochemistry Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, USA
- Alexander E. Thelen
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- Journal volume & issue
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Vol. 4
Abstract
Our knowledge of galaxy formation and evolution has incredibly progressed through multi-wavelength observational constraints of the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies at all cosmic epochs. However, little is known about the physical properties of the more diffuse and lower surface brightness reservoir of gas and dust that extends beyond ISM scales and fills dark matter haloes of galaxies up to their virial radii, the circumgalactic medium (CGM). New theoretical studies increasingly stress the relevance of the latter for understanding the feedback and feeding mechanisms that shape galaxies across cosmic times, whose cumulative effects leave clear imprints into the CGM. Recent studies are showing that a – so far unconstrained – fraction of the CGM mass may reside in the cold (T < 104 K) molecular and atomic phase, especially in high-redshift dense environments. These gas phases, together with the warmer ionised phase, can be studied in galaxies from z ∼ 0 to z ∼ 10 through bright far-infrared and sub-millimeter emission lines such as [C ii] 158µm, [O iii] 88 µm, [C I] 609µm, [C i] 370µm, and the rotational transitions of CO. Imaging such hidden cold CGM can lead to a breakthrough in galaxy evolution studies but requires a new facility with the specifications of the proposed Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST). In this paper, we use theoretical and empirical arguments to motivate future ambitious CGM observations with AtLAST and describe the technical requirements needed for the telescope and its instrumentation to perform such science.
